ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: WX0B
Operator(s): AD5Q
Station: WX0B
Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Dallas
Operating Time (hrs): 44:40
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 47 34
80: 139 56
40: 869 96
20: 908 96
15: 660 97
10: 46 21
-------------------
Total: 2669 400 Total Score = 3,164,400
Club: DFW Contest Group
Comments:
It looks like several of the big scores this year are very close to last year's
totals. Mine too, both in total Q's and mults. I think conditions were more
disturbed last year, and now solar levels are lower. Numbers on 10 & 15 are
way down, but I made it up on the lower bands - and slightly beat.
The first night was very noisy on the low bands. It seemed like 160 was open to
EU in the early evening, but it was hard to tell due to the difficulty in
copying calls through the static crashes. Obviously, the band to run was 40. At
0338z I started a run on 7009 and held the frequency for exactly 8 hours while
picking off mostly 80M mults with the 2nd radio. Life is good low in the band.
The 2nd night was quiet and the low bands were great. I mostly pounced, and may
have been able to run on 80 while 160 was hot - but 160 requires a lot of
attention. I didn't do much running on 80 this contest, and couldn't find rate
on 40 until after EU sunrise. Conditions seemed good, but I think the serious
EU's found me the night before. The low bands could have been better. At some
point during this long solar minimum we will get a major contest with a K index
of 0 or 1. I promise.
Had another failure on the run rig around midnight Saturday. It says "ERR
12V", and fixes are well documented on-line. The problem in CQWW was also
minor: we pulled the front panel from the radios and cleaned the contacts. So
for the rest of the contest I had the trade-off between running and pouncing,
and couldn't do both at once.
Daytime openings were typical of low solar flux and elevated K. I tried my
Dueling ESM scripts during the simultaneous big (but short) runs on 20/15 and
fumbled badly when I needed fills. Need to re-think that. I was able to CQ on
10 between every transmission during a 15 run, trolling for EU mults. There was
no propagation, but I needed to know that. Sunday afternoon was slow, and we are
too far west to finish out the contest on 40 like everybody east does. So it's
Monday morning JA's at the end.
But to change the subject, there's an issue I need to address:
In browsing the 3830 posts for this contest, I came across K5YAA's incident
that addresses a problem I encounter pretty often: People jump on my run
frequency and order me to QSY during an ongoing run. They come from out of
nowhere and never ID, but in YAA's case he made the effort to identify his
attacker. I never do, so with only 2 exceptions (out of dozens) I don't know
who these guys are, how many different ops are doing this, or how many others
they are doing it to. If this becomes a common way to acquire a run frequency,
then contesting is finished.
I fully understand that part of the problem is that I use narrower CW
filtering, and have for years. I FIRMLY believe that 500Hz is too wide (and
noisy), which is what most prefer. So it's a common scenario that someone might
think I'm "too close", when actually I can't hear them at all.
I made accommodations 2 years ago after an SS contest where I was truly causing
problems (a radio's receive passband wasn't where I was transmitting). My
scripts to send "QRL?" were augmented to set the filtering to 500Hz
so that I could copy all responses. Before I even QRL, I carefully look for
possible clear frequencies on the panadapter. When I do start CQing, the CW
filter stays at 500Hz for the first 5 CQ's (to me, very irritating) until
another script (which counts them) automatically sets it back to 300Hz - my
preference. If anyone tells me to leave while I am new on frequency, I leave
right way. If I even HEAR someone CQ nearby, I leave. No problem. I follow this
protocol always.
So what happens when after 15 minutes (or even hours) of running, somebody
decides that I am "too close"? Maybe they are the one that's new on
frequency, and they even sent "QRL?" (I wouldn't hear that). They QSY
right into the middle of my passband and order me to QSY, implying that they've
been there all along (lame). Since I have followed the above protocol in
establishing my run, I do not accommodate. I am on a clear frequency, and it is
mine. I also don't know for certain that they are operating on an adjacent
frequency at all. It could be somebody trying to just steal one. BTW: I don't
like bullies.
If I am causing problems to someone whom I can't hear at all, then we really
can't be that close. (This could be caused by key clicks, but it's been a few
years since I've heard that complaint). Technology has changed, and most of us
have a solution at our fingertips. Tweak the CW filter. The 300Hz setting on a
K3 works wonderfully for running - you might like it. (At 250Hz an additional
filter kicks in, which really IS too narrow.)
I don't see a downside. People calling way off frequency are not the problem
they used to be. It is no longer necessary to sweep the RIT broadly back and
forth after every CQ (except in our annual Lidfest, which is Field Day). At
300Hz, nearly all will call near the center of the passband and you can still
tune in those that don't. Instead of constantly adjusting the RIT, we now tune
the 2nd radio and find mults. What's missing is the extra 100Hz of wasted
spectrum on either side of us (which is extra noise), and also the need to
police it.
/* end of rant */
Roy -- AD5Q
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